Adverts

Full Metal Jacket

Plot
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow Marine recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting set in 1968 in Hue, Vietnam.

Release Year: 1987

Rating: 8.4/10 (212,318 voted)

Critic's Score: 78/100

Director:
Stanley Kubrick

Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio

Storyline A two-segment look at the effect of the military mindset and war itself on Vietnam era Marines. The first half follows a group of recruits in boot camp under the command of the punishing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The second half shows one of those recruits, Joker, covering the war as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, focusing on the Tet offensive.

Trivia:
For the final battle of Hue, 200 pine trees were imported from Spain and a few thousand tropical plastic plants were imported from Hong Kong. Plastic trees had previously been flown in from California, but upon seeing them, Stanley Kubrick reportedly said: "I don't like it. Get rid of it."

Goofs:
Continuity:
The shape of Private Joker's flashlight beam as he enters the head to confront Pyle.

Quotes:
[first lines]
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman:
I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that?
[recruits answers: Sir. Yes Sir!]
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman:
Bullshit I can't hear you. Sound off like you got a pair!
[recruits repeats with a louder tone]
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman:
If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?

User Review

Kubrick is genius.

Rating: 10/10

Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket
seems like an uncompleted film, but to
me that's poetic justice to one of
America's uncompleted wars. The film
is harsh and doesn't turn a blind eye
to the atrocities of Vietnam. Kubrick
is the true master of atmosphere in
film. He makes you feel like you are
there. Friends of mine have commented
that they only like the first half of
the film and that the second half
falls apart. I believe Kubrick sets up
the first half to be an understandable
reflection of the terror that would
eventually enter the lives of these
soldiers during war. It is easy to
identify with being picked on because
we all have in some way. Not all of
us, on the other hand, have fought in
war. Kubrick is the master.